And Jehovah plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made." In the scene which follows we have the magnificent pleading of Moses still more touchingly, and, I am persuaded, in advance on what went before. Mark the answer of Jehovah: "And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Where'd you get your driver's license?" Thus, what Moses actually requested here was not, merely that he might suffer physical death for Israel, but that he might be removed even from the book of life upon their behalf. Just how this was done we cannot be sure. A certain reserve becomes requisite to majesty; whereas such considerations disappear in the nearness of relationship He is pleased to enter into with us. It is the type of Christ interceding for us, and along with this the high priest's work that the manifestation of the Spirit be not hindered. Thus he who rejected every overture for his own advancement at the expense of the people now arms the Levites against their brethren. if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou has written ( Exodus 32:32 ). "And Moses besought Jehovah his God and said, Jehovah, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? For all of a sudden, I saw the greatness of God, and the power of Jesus Christ rather than the ugliness of the cancer. (2 Corinthians 3:1-18) Hence we can understand the earthly, external, and temporal character of the legal economy. Rebellious and sinful people shall know at last what a terrible mistake is their failure to know, to love, and to worship God. "Justified" is not when the prodigal son returns to his father, but when the best robe is put upon him; then he is, according to1 Corinthians 6:1-20; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20, not washed and sanctified alone but "justified." The great evil of sin appears in the price of pardon. God was not saying that everyone will bear the punishment for his own sins precluding substitution, but everyone is responsible for his own sins. All the people then saw the thunderings and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, and stood afar off, asking that not God but Moses should speak with them. So as you get into these metals, you'll see the place of the silver in redemption, the place of gold, the place of God's presence, and the place of brass, the place of God's judgment against sin. "You have sinned, and therefore you are undone if your sins be not pardoned, for ever undone without a Saviour. The place of meeting, and now this is the place where God will meet you, even Jesus Christ.Silver, the metal that was used in the sockets, is the metal of redemption in the scriptures. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. He loved the people Himself, and delighted in Moses' love for them. He who cannot appreciate the blessedness of such a place, with the great high priest bearing up thus the names of God's people before God, must be very insensible to the highest favours. But is that the highest form of blessedness? Let us not forget it. He is the place where we meet God. God had first told him of it (Exodus 32:7; Exodus 32:7), and now he tells God of it, by way of lamentation. (Exodus 24:1-18) "And he said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off." And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them unto me. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I . Intimacy with what is unseen and heavenly is quite as much the portion of a Christian and even more characteristically so than the knowledge of what passes around us now. In answer to Moses who advances in his demands, yet withal no less suiting them to the divine glory than to the people's wants according to the light then vouchsafed, God makes a covenant different from what went before. Jesus speaks to the church of Sardis declaring, "He that overcomes, I will not blot his name out of the book of life"( Revelation 3:5 ). So we use the word "God repented", but in reality God does not and can-has no need to change or to repent, which it means "to change" or "to turn from". I bring before God the needs of the community. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play. The Christian has it also, and in a far better way. This, one may be permitted to question. We just couldn't sit by complacently and see the terrible condition of the lost around us without being more moved, without being touched, without being burdened, without being driven to a greater witness unto them. The Bible is silent on this. There lay the insuperable difficulty once; but now grace perfectly meets it, and meets it in a way which evinces alike the goodness and the wisdom of God. This should convince us of the great evil there is in sin, that he who undertook to make atonement found it no easy thing to do it; he must go up to the Lord with his own blood to make atonement. We have what answers to it. Ooh, I could get going again.So the people broke off their golden earrings, he took a graving tool; he carved out this little molten calf. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and [not merely Jacob, but] Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. It may be ever so minute, but there is habitually a dealing of Christ between the touch that stays the issue and the word which declares with no less authority than love, "Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." It was not merely a new nature or a new position, but it was a corresponding power of the Spirit of God. The blood of the bullock for a sin-offering was put on the horns of the altar; the blood of one ram for a burnt-offering was sprinkled round about upon the altar; and the blood of the other ram for consecration was put on Aaron's right ear, and that of his sons, on their right thumb and right great toe. Is it not His grace shown in man, even in the man Christ Jesus? Zephaniah 2:3, It may be, you shall be hid. It is the display of God in both cases the one in the presence of God where He manifests Himself; the other in dealing with man and his wants in this world. For the first time the face of Moses shines after communications with God. It wasn't natural with Moses. So Christ entered by His own blood entered in once for all into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption that we might have a common place with Him by blood and in the Spirit's power. The Christian position is altogether different: we are elect as children "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit," meaning by this the separating power of the Holy Ghost from the very first moment of our conversion. God bless these men. The Holy Ghost is the only power for rightly using, and applying, and enjoying the truth; and therefore He is called "the truth" no less than the Lord Jesus. More things are wrought through prayer than the world will ever know. The utmost alacrity in answer to the call for material, useful and ornamental, common or costly, is shown by all. Most significantly, Moses, mighty in righteousness though he was, could not provide an atonement for Israel, only the Son of God Himself, in the fullness of time, would be able to accomplish such an atonement as that. "Then forget me", where Moses is willing to take the place with the guilty people, and to stand with the guilty people. It was the state in which the children of Israel were put here, and was a very great mercy for them in a certain sense. Thus it will always be found in the long run. And he received them at their hands, and fashioned with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf ( Exodus 32:1-4 ): So he melted down the gold, and then he fashioned it with a graving tool, a little golden calf. To see her suffering was more than I could take. God did not wipe out the nation, but neither could he overlook sin. "Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin " We are amazed at the scholars who make an elipsis (an incomplete sentence) out of this. It is not God who thus deals with humanity, of which Israel was the chosen specimen, and the one remembered before Him; but in the seven candlesticks, or rather the candelabrum with its seven lights, we clearly see the type of Christ as the power and giver of the Holy Ghost in testimony for God. Exodus 32:35. Unless you confess your sins to God, there's no way God can forgive your sins. The Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Samaritan render the words thus, they worshipped or sacrificed to the calf which Aaron made. See Exodus 32:33-37 in the Bible. Their conduct proved that His grace had not at all entered into their hearts. Who has bewitched you that you should so soon turn away from the truth? But the written word of God is the sole instrumental means and the revelation of it all. The latter part gets a little redundant, because then they go ahead and make the thing just like he said. . Both unite in Christ and His atoning death. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto Jehovah, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which Jehovah had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses" (verses Exodus 35:21-29). When the veil was rent (namely, by Christ dying as a man), man could go into the presence of God, at least the believer. Now we know what these mean. In the beginning ofExodus 21:1-36; Exodus 21:1-36 we find the type of the servant. It is a great sin indeed to make gold our god, as those do that make it their hope, and set their heart on it. A few words on this subject may not be amiss for any souls that have not adequately considered the matter, as there is hardly anything on which men are so much at fault as this question. Thus men's sins and follies make work for their friends and ministers, unpleasant work, many times, and give great interruptions to that work which they delight in. "Don't ask me to blot your name out, that's ridiculous. One of the dearest persons I've ever known. And Moses returned to the Lord, and he said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold ( Exodus 32:25-31 ). In Exodus 28:1-43; Exodus 29:1-46 is given the prescribed ceremonial in consecrating the priesthood. Then follows the ritual required in the act of consecrating Aaron and his sons. All true prayer begins with God. Perhaps he has not peace at once, but at any rate he is thoroughly arrested; he desires earnestly to know the gospel from the very first. God therefore makes much of the sign. A few words on the law may be well here. I do not have that kind of compassion. How pathetic his address was. But inasmuch as Christ differed from Moses, as grace differs from law; as that which suits God the Father known in heaven, though manifesting Himself upon earth, differs from a process of mere dealing with the first man according to righteous claim; so it is with the Christian man: while faithful to Christ, as he knows Him, he will never do anything which the law could possibly condemn. He reproaches them once more with being a stiff-necked people; He will not go up in the midst of them, lest He should consume them in the way. And when Moses saw that they were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies:) Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and he said, Who is on the Lord's side? In him unveiled there we have our figure, not in Moses veiled, still less in Israel The Christian in his full place is nowhere set forth by the Jew. Such a beautiful person. He considers that distinct meanings to be attached to the materials, colours, etc., can have no solid foundation, and are " here out of place"! They were sanctified from the nations by this fleshly separation to obey the law under its solemn and extreme penalty. Thus, whatever sin on our part may call for, we have here the whole scene of creation, all things in heaven and all things on earth, claimed in the power of the Spirit in virtue of Christ's person and title, just as He was in fact anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power apart from blood-shedding. What was the meaning of the blood? Moses really didn't have any desire to go and get involved. Now may the Lord be with you and guide and bless your life, and keep you in the love of Jesus Christ. There cannot be a more striking illustration of the truth that Christ is the continual object of the Holy Ghost than that, even in these temporary ordinances, God cannot refrain from looking onward to His Son. Numbers 1:47-53; Deuteronomy 33:8-11). Doubtless to a superficial glance it appears somewhat unaccountable, in the midst of describing the various parts of the sanctuary, to interrupt the course of it by dragging into the very midst of it the consecration of Aaron and his sons. All changes now. The compassion of John Knox. Thus he avails himself of the special affection God had shown him to put himself with the people, and to secure God's presence going with the people, who otherwise could never enter the land. This is greatly confirmed by what follows. Meanwhile he commends the mercy of God in having spared Aaron, whilst he speaks of the calf as his work, as well as of the whole of the people; in a different way indeed, for Aaron formed the calf at their request; still the criminality was common to them. . The test must have brought inevitable ruin. Strengthen your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is near. The Plague of Flies - Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. Foolish Galatians. They, with Aaron to help them, aimed a blow at the throne of God by making a golden calf. Exodus 32:1-35 reveals a sad . We may be ignorant, and unable to expose them; but we may rest perfectly sure that God is never wrong and man ever untrustworthy. His great detestation of the people's sin, Exodus 32:31; Exodus 32:31. I'll blot out the names of those who have sinned against me. God has revealed His mind, and to this, if wise, we must needs be subject. You might get some computerized letters that are filled with hypocrisy, deceit and lies. They made an animal idol as a visible symbol of their unseen God, then developed a ritual to go with it, complete with priest, altar, sacrifices and feasting. No wonder God is working so marvelously because of the intercession that is going on, day and night continually. Had He dealt on the ground of pure law, how could it have been? Or he may have sinned a sin unto death, 1 John 5:16-17, that is, a sin which God will punish with temporal death, while he extends mercy to the soul. God explained a principle of His dealings with people here. Still Christ does bring us into His own relationship as far as it is possible for the creature to possess it. "Sanctified" in this sense is clearly before justification; and so the apostle puts it. This I maintain to be peculiar to Christianity in all its fulness. Once the tabernacle was constructed and in use, only those of this tribe would be servants of God in the general duties connected with it (25-29; cf. So far less, that it would be a crime to use human language to try to describe it.Yet we must describe the activities of God, and we only have human vocabulary to do it; and thus, we have to use terms that we understand as human beings to describe the supposed actions of God. Moses, having executed justice upon the principal offenders, is here dealing both with the people and with God. It would not be suitable to such a position that there should be undue familiarity. Of these the highest is the ark. We need "the washing of regeneration" and generally the washing of water by the word. No doubt it was connected with the earth, and what was in itself anything but a condition suitable to the mind of God. Maybe God won't forgive; maybe there's a refusal.So Moses goes on to say. Next, when the law was given, in the very centre of its requirements stands the Sabbath-day. Although they were Gods people and had been delivered by his mighty power from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were still very much Egyptian in their feelings, thinking and habits. But they sinned, and provoked the Lord to depart from them, and to destroy the work of his hands. Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd the Lord plagued the people,. That is, continued so to do at certain times, with the pestilence, or other calamities; for this seems not to refer, as some think, to the slaughter of the 3000 men: the reason follows: because they made the calf which Aaron made; that is, they provided him with materials to make it; they urged and solicited him to do it, and would not be easy without it, so that the making of it is ascribed to them; or they served it, as Onkelos; or bowed unto it, as Jonathan; with which agree the Syriac, Arabic, and Samaritan versions, which render it, they served, or worshipped, or sacrificed to the calf which Aaron made. Yet the expression behind it, surely the compassion that was there, the willingness of Moses has to be admired.We can admire the work that God is able to do in changing a man from a cold, calloused position, "The children of Israel; I could care less. It is the peculiar property and glory of the word of God that it communicates not merely a truth here and there, but the truth; and this in the person of Christ. We have found no way to discover when the day came, but one thing is certain, "God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he has appointed, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). I thought of all the times that those hands had wiped my forehead when it was hot and sweaty with a fever. But then the fruits of the Spirit can never be attained by the law; nor are they even contemplated by a legal measure. "No," says Moses, "I am so far from desiring to see my name and family built up on the ruins of Israel, that I will choose rather to sink with them. Reader, be on thy guard. And is it not farther evident from Exodus 32:32-33, that, although a man be written in God's book, if he sins he may be blotted out? The last chapter records, first, Jehovah's call to Moses to set up the dwelling of the appointed tent on the first day of the first month (i.e., in the second year, ver. But God I can't stand to see her suffer anymore. It was the power of the Spirit. But besides, when the high priest went into Jehovah's presence, there was the sounding of the bells between the pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet on the skirts of his garment. One loaf? 35. the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calfNo immediate judgments were inflicted, but this early lapse into idolatry was always mentioned as an aggravation of their subsequent apostasies. Concordances: Nave's Topical Bible- Israel; Judgments; Wicked (People); Torrey's Topical Textbook- Anger of God, the; Calf of Gold; Desert, Journey of Israel through the; Plague or Pestilence, the; Dictionaries: Against the fruits of the Spirit there is no law, as the apostle so emphatically says to the Galatians. Such an one may be very ignorant, no doubt; but at any rate his heart is made up to obey the Lord his desire is Godward. They prepare the way for types which, instead of displaying God in Christ to man, set forth rather man drawing near by the appointed channel to God. These consequently were to form and regulate them as a people under His special government, God suiting them to their condition and in no way revealing His own nature as He afterwards did personally in the Word made flesh in the New Testament as a full display of His mind, and in the Christian individually or the church corporately as responsible to represent Christ, like Israel in relation to the tables of stone. When my mother was dying, I went into her bedroom, and I sat there for awhile looking at her as she was suffering, trying to understand in my heart, crying out to God. Thus, I have to describe that also in human terms, and give some sort of an explanation why these people were able to survive this great sacrilege against God. And the Lord plagued the people That is, continued so to do at certain times, with the pestilence, or other calamities; for this seems not to refer, as some think, to the slaughter of the 3000 men: the . No, He didn't change.Again we see Moses standing there interceding, holding God off. [Note: See Jonathan Master, "Exodus 32 as an Argument for Traditional Theism," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 45:4 (December 2002):585-98.]. Then, after the priesthood has been fully brought before us, we have the various portions of their dress. If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. For the present, the Lord plagued the people (Exodus 32:35; Exodus 32:35), probably by the pestilence, or some other infectious disease, which was a messenger of God's wrath, and an earnest of worse. In the greater part of the ten commandments, in short, it was not "Thou shalt," but "Thou shalt not." When the time was come, He took a basin of water and a towel, and washed His disciples' feet. This is true, no doubt; but unless it goes farther than this, it is a declarative sanction of God's punishing in case of failure to meet His demands. Very often it is not so little a while, as many of us know to our cost. 32 But now, please forgive their sinbut if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.". The Son of the Father, He brings us into the knowledge of the true God as the Son knew Him in heaven, as the Son still of course knew Him on earth. The reason is that He would impress on His people that all His dealings, varied as they may be, are intended to keep before their minds that rest to which He was steadily working, and into which He means to bring His own in due time. There is distance, even though they are called to this place of distinction. Undoubtedly in itself it composed a worldly tabernacle; but this does not hinder these figures from typifying what was to be for the most part of a heavenly character. The Jews have a saying, grounded on this, that henceforward no judgment fell upon Israel but there was in it an ounce of the powder of the golden calf. God promised Moses that He would not abandon His people for their sin (Exodus 32:34), but when their rebellion was full (at Kadesh Barnea, Numbers 14:27-35) He smote those of them who remained (Exodus 32:35). let him come unto me. It is the condition of a slave; nevertheless even there God has Christ before Him. But cloud by day and fire by night, the token of is presence was ever before all Israel (versesExodus 40:34-38; Exodus 40:34-38). The blood threatened death on every one who transgressed. For want of a little more dependence upon God, how often does an excellent beginning come to an unhappy conclusion! This (some think) bespeaks the inability of the law of Moses to reconcile men to God and to perfect our peace with him, which was reserved for Christ to do, in whom alone it is that God so pardons sin as to remember it no more. In Exodus 31:1-18 we have all this closed with two facts the Spirit of God empowering man to make a tabernacle according to the pattern, and the Sabbath-day connected with the order of the tabernacle. Jehovah directs the attention of Moses to the camp, saying, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Into that wondrous knowledge we are brought by the Son come down here below; and above all by the Holy Ghost, now that Christ is gone up on high For in point of fact, when God was only known as the one God, however true this may be, He could not really be known as He is. It is a great mistake to suppose that the proclamation of divine goodness in this scene is the gospel. May God give it to us, a great burden for lost souls, that we too might become intercessors, because that is the secret behind all intercession is that great love and burden for the lost. But, argues Moses, for this very reason, we most of all want Jehovah's presence. No doubt the time was not yet come for God to reveal Himself as He is. It is not a merely legal way of escaping the dreadful doom that he sees is the just portion of those that despise God. He who has wrought expiation for our sins is our life, and at the same time He is the object whom God has revealed to our faith. I see no ground in scripture for the opinion some are of, that God would not have burdened them with such a multitude of sacrifices and other ceremonial institutions if they had not provoked him by worshipping the golden calf. "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Clearly it was for drawing near to God. It is true that God had taken every care to show His own mind about it. We'll start over again."] In short therefore the children of Israel stood on the ground of man in the flesh; and man in the flesh, as he is a sinful being, can neither deny nor accomplish his obligation to do the will of God. They were guilty, and must have been cut off. The bells give their sound when the high priest goes in and when he comes out. But is it a fact that the church at Jerusalem had the deepest enjoyment of God in apostolic times? And Moses returned unto Jehovah, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. We're trying to sort of gloss over the sins, the guilt in our lives that it doesn't look as bad as it really is. The first is worship, praise, adoration, acknowledging God for who He is. Thus, if the law be the power of sin, grace is of holiness. But after the form of hallowing the priests, the Spirit prescribes in the end of Exodus 39:1-43 (ver. I said, "Lord I'm no hero, and I'm not demanding that You heal her. 35 And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made. She never experienced a moment's pain after that. The reason is manifest; for the proper knowledge of the Christian is such knowledge as the Son, speaking according to His own communion with His Father, communicates to us. We have a figure to which the apostle refers (2 Corinthians 3:1-18), confirming what has just now been stated. If the Spirit of God here puts "sanctified" before "justified," our plain duty is to learn what is meant, not to wrest His word because of Popish misuse of it a misuse due largely to the common ignorance of the primary force of sanctification. Lord, now turn from Your fierce anger, don't do this." [Note: Durham, p. Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 32:35 Commentary on Exodus 32:30-35 (Read Exodus 32:30-35) Moses calls it a great sin. His angel is promised, not only to keep and lead Israel, but to bring them in, spite of the doomed Canaanites, who should be driven out: they should have no covenant with them or their gods. By the law he died to the law that he might live to God. 31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Thus Moses prevailed for a reprieve and a mitigation of the punishment, but could not wholly turn away the wrath of God. Exodus 32:35 ESV Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. First of all they promised obedience; but it was the obedience of the law. I grant you this that, looked at as a whole, distressing failure was setting in just as it was here; yet as here the very failure isolated the truehearted, but isolated them not in want of love but in the strongest possible manifestation of divine charity and sense of God's glory. Accordingly we may regard the law as a whole, consisting not only of moral claims but of national institutes, ordinances, statutes, and judgment) under which Israel were put. God is speaking to Moses about their sin in need of judgment. Hence, as duty is ever measured by responsibility, that of the Christian is according to the place in which grace has put him. After this follow two things worthy of all heed, a nearness of communication between Jehovah and His servant never enjoyed before, and more than that, a blessing secured to the people never vouchsafed before. "And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." It is true He was born King of the Jews, and He never can cease to be really so; but it is not so that we know Him. Those who reason from Israel to us, without intending it, ignore the relationship of the Christian, and set aside the bearing of redemption on our walk: so serious is that error which to many seems a pious thought, and I am sure taken up by them with the desire of honouring God and His will. This we need, the application of the word of God by the Spirit to deal with every kind of impurity. Yet even then Jehovah, while warning against making gods of silver and gold, deigned to direct them to make to Him an altar of ground for burnt-offerings and peace-offerings: if of stone two prohibitions instruct His people. But it is as far as possible from the truth that "the discipline of the law comes in to supply the deficiencies of the Spirit, and curb the still remaining tendencies to sin. In the day when I visit - Compare Numbers 14:22-24. No such carnal thought entered as if God had need of bread from man. He takes and pitches the tabernacle, it is said, "without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the Congregation." So don't exalt Moses, because it was God that gave him this great compassion. The bread that was set on the golden table consisted of twelve loaves in evident correspondence with the twelve tribes of Israel, but this assuredly in connection with Christ, for He is ever the object of God's counsels. Exodus 39:38-43) the sacrifice of the daily lambs which presented the continual acceptance of the people of God, with the renewed and most express assurance of His dwelling among them. And the word which signifies to make, is oft used for worshipping or sacrificing, as Exodus 10:25 Judges 13:15 1 Kings 18:26. "God wants all of His children to be prosperous and healthy. That is the bearing of it all. Moses is asking for his name to be blotted out of the book that God has written, the book of life, if God will not forgive the sins of the people. Is that the way in which Christ was most glorified? This is what is going on every day now in Christendom. They lost sight of His promises to the fathers. Exodus 36:1-38 shows us the chosen workmen engaged in their allotted tasks, and even begging Moses to check the over-abounding supplies of Israel's liberality. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? The generation that entered into Canaan would be one that had never danced around the golden calf! The generation that entered into Canaan would be one that had never danced around the golden calf! Nevertheless, here as everywhere God maintains His right to call, and gives the requisite gifts. As surely as God is, man's conscience bears witness to Him. No doubt all was advancing as regards the world; but that which was brought to us now was before the world, and altogether above the world in its own nature. It is needless to linger on the scene of the rebellion. Now we see Moses in the position of an intercessor, offering intercessory prayer before God.Intercessory prayer is that form of prayer that reaches out beyond me and my own needs, to bring a guilty world before God, that God might work in it. The seventh year was to be enjoyed as the land's Sabbath, even as the seventh day by each Israelite, who must avoid naming false gods, but keep the due feasts thrice a year to the true God, not offering blood with leavened bread, nor letting the fat remain till the morning A prohibition occurs of a peculiar kind, and is repeated not only in a later part of this book, but also in Deuteronomy: "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk." The Lord said unto Moses, ["Moses, that's off the wall."] Where will one find what man should be but in Christ? Then the Lord smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made. "If Thou wilt forgive their sin", no answer. But Moses is having to describe the anger of God against these people and the deserving justice that was coming to them in the human terms, and yet the justice of God doesn't fall upon them. He wanted to prove and manifest the heart of His servant. New King James Version So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. And now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine angel shall go before thee; nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. Jehovah however stands to His own ways, and says to Moses, "Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 35 And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. The prime idea in blood seems always to be the life given up, i.e., death, in acknowledgment of the guilt of the one concerned. It's only when you're honest and open with God, and you openly confess your sin and your guilt before God, that now you open the door for God to work. Because they made the calf; they made it because they urged Aaron to make it, as Judas is said to purchase the field, Acts 1:18, which was purchased by his money; and Aaron made it, by giving command to make it. Exodus 30:1-38; Exodus 30:1-38 resumes the account, for a reason already explained, of the various vessels of the sanctuary which had to follow the priesthood, and pursue the truth meant by it, namely, the means of access to God. In none of these types can one find the full truth of Christ and of His work. Moses loved Israel with a love stronger than death; yet he who thus loved them showed unsparingly his horror of the leprosy that had broken out among them. The Lord said, "All right, now go and lead them, and I'm gonna send my angel before you." Further, in answer to the address of Moses, (1.) Thus, it is plain, nothing can be more complete. God would not at first give him full assurances of his being reconciled to them, lest, if the comfort of a pardon were too easily obtained, they should be emboldened to do the like again, and should not be made sensible enough of the evil of the sin. Where's the love, you know. They will do well. And it seems well to remark it, because it is of considerable practical and also doctrinal importance, contrasting as it does the place of the Christian with that of the Jew. For the soul the great change is a fact; it remains for the body when the Lord comes. I pray, "God, give me more compassion for the lost". And so one might go through every quality and every office, and find them only in perfection in our Lord Jesus.